Publication Year 2016

Acceptance in OA@INAF 2020-04-30T16:04:26Z

Title PRISMA, Italian network for meteors and atmospheric studies

Authors GARDIOL, Daniele; CELLINO, Alberto; DI MARTINO, Mario

Handle http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/24394 76 Proceedings of the IMC, Egmond, 2016

PRISMA Italian network for meteors and atmospheric studies Daniele Gardiol, Alberto Cellino and Mario Di Martino

INAF ± Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Pino Torinese, Italia [email protected]

The aim of the PRISMA project is to develop the Italian participation in a network of European observing facilities whose primary targets are bright meteors (the so-called bolides and fireballs) and the recovery of meteorites. Several all-sky cameras have been recently installed in France (FRIPON project), and we propose to do the same in Italy, interconnecting the Italian network with the French one. Such a network is of great interest for the studies of interplanetary bodies and the dynamical and physical evolution of the population of small bodies of the Solar System and for the studies of collected meteorites. Those eventually recovered will be classified and investigated from the petrologic, genetic and evolutionary points of view, analyzed for their spectral characteristics and compared with known asteroids. The possibility to measure the radioactivity of samples shortly after the fall using gamma-ray spectrometers available in the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino laboratories, will allow us to reveal the presence of short-lived cosmogenic radioisotopes. PRISMA is also very suitable for the purposes of atmospheric studies. This includes the statistics of cloud coverage and lightning frequencies, as well as the comparison of the optical depth measured using satellites and PRISMA cameras.

1 Scientific motivations been exposed to terrestrial alteration, which makes them scientifically less valuable. A way to reliably determining PRISMA for meteor studies the source regions of meteorites is to witness the falls Meteorites represent samples of Solar System bodies when they occur. For this purpose, the same event should naturally brought to our labs from a variety of different be detected simultaneously from different directions, in locations. Dynamical studies suggest that most meteorites order to be able to derive at the same time the original come from the asteroid main belt, rather than from the heliocentric orbit of the impactor and the site of fall of closer population of so-called near-Earth asteroids, as possible meteorites produced by the event. This has been commonly believed (Burbine, 2002). However, it is the goal inspiring many observation networks, such as the difficult to conclusively identifying possible links European Fireball Network in middle-Europe, the NASA between some individual asteroids and some meteorite All-sky Fireball Network1 in the USA, and a similar one classes. It is therefore important to develop ground-based in Australia2. In this context a new generation of observations of meteor phenomena to improve our detectors optimized for the studies of bright meteors and capability of deriving accurate orbits of the small bodies the establishment of a much wider network of automatic impacting our planet, to monitor a statistically sufficient observing stations, with a grid spacing of 60±100 km, number of events to study their origin and possibly to operating 24 hours per day, can allow us to obtain a UHFRYHU³IUHVK´PHWHRULWHV. The currently open scientific major improvement. The French community (Colas, problems for which we can expect to get some important 2012; Colas 2014) has recently accomplished the first answers from an extensive work of detection of fireballs steps forward to start this enterprise (FRIPON, Fireball and recovery of freshly fallen meteorites include the Recovery and Inter Planetary matter Observation following questions: Network)3. Doing the same in Italy would give a decisive contribution to a full European network. x Where do meteorites come from? x How many parent bodies of known meteorites can PRISMA for atmospheric studies we surely identify? The inherently multi-disciplinary nature of the project x Can we better understand the mechanisms of makes it appealing to a wide scientific community. In the delivery from the asteroid main belt? field of atmospheric science, cloudiness forecasting is a x What is the abundance of water possibly delivered to challenge for numerical models. To validate current the Earth by different classes of asteroids? numerical models of cloud cover it is essential to x Are there new classes of meteorites that we have not compare simulations with large amounts of yet discovered? measurements. Data detected by all-sky cameras are useful for this and other branches of atmospheric physics The latter question is not academic. Actually, many (Arbizu-Barrena, 2015). In this respect PRISMA is PHWHRULWHV SUHVHQWO\ LQ RXU FROOHFWLRQV DUH ³ILQGV´ DV

RSSRVHG WR ³IDOOV´  i.e. meteorites found a significant 1 http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov amount of time after their fall, often weathered having 2 http://fireballsinthesky.com.au 3 http://www.fripon.org Proceedings of the IMC, Egmond, 2016 77 complementary to traditional weather ground networks, transmitted to the data processing center where they are such as the ones operated by Agenzia Regionale Per saved and stored. O¶Ambiente (ARPA), Local Governments and other Institutions. The continuous sky monitoring by PRISMA Table 1 ± Meteorite falls and finds on Italian soil. can provide much additional information on the status of Name Region Year the atmosphere, including also statistics of lightning. Albareto Emilia-Romagna 1766 Fall )LQDOO\WKHVN\¶VSRODUL]DWLRQLVVHQVLWLYHWRWKHDHURVRO Alessandria Piemonte 1860 Fall properties in the sky and it is an ideal complementary measurement device in combination with aerosol optical Alfianello Lombardia 1883 Fall depth measurements. Assisi Umbria 1886 Fall Bagnone Toscana 1904 Find Barbianello Lombardia 1960 Find Barcis Friuli V.G. 1950 Find Borgo S.Donino Emilia-Romagna 1808 Fall Castel Berardenga Toscana 1791 Fall Castenaso Emilia-Romagna 2003 Find Castiglione d. Lago Umbria 1970 Find Castrovillari Calabria 1583 Fall Cereseto Piemonte 1840 Fall Collescipoli Umbria 1890 Fall Fermo Marche 1996 Fall Girgenti Sicilia 1853 Fall Lago Valscura Piemonte 1995 Find Masua Sardegna 1967 Find Messina Sicilia 1955 Fall

Mineo Sicilia 1826 Fall Figure 1 ± Meteorite falls and finds on italian soil since Monte Milone Marche 1846 Fall the beginning of times. Motta dei Conti Piemonte 1868 Fall Narni Umbria 921 Fall 2 Project description Noventa Vicentina Veneto 1971 Fall Orvinio Lazio 1872 Fall Project description The project consists of the installation of a network of Patti Sicilia 1922 Fall fireball detectors. We plan to use the same typology of Piancaldoli Toscana 1968 Fall detectors adopted in France in the framework of the Renazzo Emilia-Romagna 1824 Fall FRIPON project, which started operations in early 2016. 5LYROWDGH¶%DVVL Lombardia 1491 Fall These detectors are cutting edge technology. The goal of San Michele Marche 2002 Fall PRISMA is to develop a full Italian network, suitably covering the national territory. The planned camera grid Siena Toscana 1794 Fall distribution will make it possible to derive the orbital Sinnai Sardegna 1956 Fall paths of the impactors with an accuracy of the order of Tessera Veneto 2000 Fall 200 meters. The first nodes of the grid will be hosted in Torino Piemonte 1988 Fall North-Western Italy, to be easily interconnected with the FRIPON network. The fireball detectors have a 100% Trenzano Lombardia 1856 Fall duty cycle, as bright fireballs can be detected even in Vago Veneto 1668 Fall daytime. The cameras operate at the wavelengths of Valdinizza Lombardia 1903 Fall visible light, with an estimated visual magnitude limit as Valdinoce Emilia-Romagna 1496 Fall faint as m = 2-3. Each camera is connected to the v Vigarano Emilia-Romagna 1910 Fall internet, and will acquire data at a maximum frequency of 30 frames per second, with recording starting in case of Expected rates detection of a bright moving source, according to Over Italy we can expect to have about 1 bright meteor triggering conditions defined by the automatic software every 48 hours. Among these events, according to current of data processing. Every 10 minutes the camera takes a estimates (Halliday, 1996), we can expect, in a country as longer single exposure for astrometric calibration and extended as Italy, the recovery rate of meteorites to be other purposes, including public outreach and further somewhere between 2 and 10 per year, these numbers scientific processing, such as for atmosphere studies. depending critically on whether the corresponding Detections and long exposures are automatically 78 Proceedings of the IMC, Egmond, 2016 fireball is seen or not. The actual recovery fraction has in particular Università di Torino, Università di Firenze been very low in the past (see Table 1 for a complete list and Università di Padova, and with the Consiglio of confirmed Italian meteorites, including the very recent Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)8. We are developing our confirmation of Castiglione del Lago, and Figure 1 for a outreach activities in contact with Infini.to (Museum of geographical distribution), only less than 40 meteorites Astronomy and Space ± Planetarium of Torino)9 and with have been recovered (and among them only 32 are falls) Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali10 and Museo since the beginning of times. The proposed fireball Craveri11, located in Piedmont, and with Parco network is expected to produce a significant Astronomico delle Madonie (Sicily), that soon will begin improvement. the activities. Figure 3 shows the geographical distribution of the currently involved institutes. Sites choice The choice of the sites hosting the network nodes will be done taking into account the strong community of Italian amateur astronomers that operate several small observing stations located in very convenient locations, and our intention to deeply involve secondary schools. This is an excellent opportunity for several amateur teams and schools to work and collaborate with professional researchers following the citizen science and audience engagement philosophies. Figure 2 shows a preliminary assessment of possible candidate sites in Northern Italy.

Figure 3 ± Geographical distribution of the PRISMA participating institutes.

Strategy for network funding and deployment We are currently looking for funds to realize the project. The natural funder for a scientific project is the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research 12 (MIUR) , that operates in several ways. The PRIN (Progetti di Ricerca di Interesse Nazionale) is a call that Figure 2 ± Candidate sites for node deployment in Northern Italy. On the left the three FRIPON cameras already operating is issued usually once a year, for which we already in France. submit a proposal. Another interesting call is PLS (Piano Lauree Scientifiche)13, an educational program which aim Participating institutes is to increase the number of undergraduate students PRISMA is a project of the Italian National Institute for choosing scientific studies in Universities, such as Astrophysics (INAF), led by INAF-Osservatorio Mathematics or Physics, that should be issued in late Astrofisico di Torino. Other INAF participating summer. A second channel is represented by private bank structures are: INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, foundations, as most of them are interested to support INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, INAF- scientific research (although mainly in the medical area) Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, INAF-Istituto di and, more interesting for us, educational activities in Radio Astronomia (with the Medicina and Noto sites), schools. The bigger bank foundations operate at regional INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova and INAF- or super-regional level, the smaller ones instead focus IAPS in Rome. Collaborations include regional their activities in a small territory such as the observatories such as Osservatorio Regionale della Valle neighborhood of a single city. Therefore, following this G¶$RVWD4 (OAVdA) and Osservatorio Polifunzionale del second channel, it is very unlikely to get the entire Chianti (OPC, Florence)5, as well as several amateur network funded. We are currently proposing to bank astronomer groups, some of which are already part of foundations to support regional sub-networks or even small meteor tracking networks. For the atmospheric single nodes, following a modular approach for the studies we rely on the Italian Meteorological Society6 and network implementation, so that the smaller sub- on the Agenzia Regionale per O¶$PELHQWH7, the former networks can be later on integrated to form a whole being in particular interested in improving the Italian network. meteorological data on five historical monitoring stations for which long time historical data record exist. Strong collaboration is also under development with universities, 8 http://www.cnr.it 9 http://www.planetarioditorino.it 4 http://www.oavda.it 10 http://www.mrsntorino.it 5 http://www.osservatoriodelchianti.it 11 http://www.museocraveri.it 6 http://www.nimbus.it 12 http://www.istruzione.it 7 http://www.arpa.piemonte.gov.it 13 https://laureescientifiche.miur.it Proceedings of the IMC, Egmond, 2016 79

Meteorites analysis facilities &ODVVLILFDWLRQ DQG &RVPRJHQLF (IIHFWV´ At INAF- Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino Monte dei Meteoritics, 23, 258. Cappuccini laboratory we perform gamma spectrum analysis of meteorite samples (Colombetti, 2013). The Burbine T. H., McCoy T. J., Meibom A., Gladman B. and HyperPure Germanium detector (see Figure 4) allows Keil K.  ³Meteoritic Parent Bodies: Their determining very low emission rates of cosmogenic Number and Identification´ ,Q Bottke Jr. W. F., radioisotopes. A second detector, a NaI scintillator, is Cellino A., Paolicchi P. and Binzel R. P., editors, used to work in coincidence in order to suppress Asteroids III. University of Arizona Press, unwanted signal and noise. Analysis of very recently Tucson, pages 653±667. fallen meteorites (few days) is able to determine the Colas F., Zanda B., Vernazza P., Vaubaillon J., activity of short-lived cosmogenic isotopes, as it was Bouley S., Gattacceca J., Baratoux D., Birlan M., done for the Torino meteorite (Bhandari, 1988). The Cournede C., Fieni C., Hutzler A., Jambon A., University of Firenze runs a laboratory for Electronic Maquet L., Mousis O., Rochette P., Strajnic J. and Microscopy and Micro Analysis (MEMA)14 where Vachier )   ³ )5,321  )LUHEDOO 5HFRYHU\ meteorite samples are normally classified after chemical DQG ,QWHUSODQHWDU\ 0DWWHU 2EVHUYDWLRQ 1HWZRUN´ analysis with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) In Proceeding of the conference on Asteroids, using the Energy Distribution Spectrometry (EDS) Comets, Meteors, Niigata, Japan, 16-20 May technique. 2012. LPI contribution No. 1667, id.6426.

Colas F., Zanda B., Bouley S., Vaubaillon J., Vernazza P., Gattacceca J., Marmo C., Audureau Y., Kwon M. K., Maquet L., Rault J.-L., Birlan M., Egal A., Rotaru M., Birnbaum C., Cochard F. and Thizy 2   ³7KH )5,321 and Vigie-&LHO QHWZRUNV´ ,Q 5DXOW J.L. and Roggemans P., editors, Proceeding of the International Meteor Conference, Giron, France, 18-21 September 2014. IMO, pages 34±38.

Colombetti P., Taricco C., Bhandari N., Sinha N., Di Martino M., Cora A. and Vivaldo G. (2013). ³/RZ DFWLYLW\PHDVXUHPHQWRIPHWHRULWHVXVLQJ+3*H- 1D,GHWHFWRUV\VWHP´Nuclear Instr. And Methods Figure 4 ± A detail of the detector of the Monte dei Cappuccini in Physics Research A, 718, 140±142. laboratories in Torino. Halliday I., Griffin A. A. and Blackwell A. T. (1996). 3 Conclusion ³'HWDLOHGGDWDIRUILUHEDOOVIURPWKH&DQDGLDQ camera network and inferences concerning the We are just at the beginning of the project, we have LQIOX[ RI ODUJH PHWHRURLGV´ Meteoritics and already installed a FRIPON camera on the rooftop of our Planetary Science, 31, 185±217. Observatory in Pino Torinese and started acquisition. Currently this camera is connected to the French network, but if we succeed in getting the required funds we will start deploying the Italian network. A web site15 dedicated to the project is under construction but already accessible.

References

Arbizu-Barrena C., Pozo-Vàzquez D., Ruiz-Arias J. A. and Tovar-Pescador J. (2015). ³0DFURVFRSLFFORXG properties in the WRF NWP model: an assessment XVLQJVN\FDPHUDDQGFHLORPHWHUGDWD´Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 120, 297±312.

Bhandari N., Bonino G., Callegari E. and Cini Castagnoli G. (1988). ³7KH 7RULQR 0HWHRULWH

14 http://www.mema.unifi.it 15 http://prissma.oato.inaf.it